Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Tiger Girl in "The Warning Drone Menace" (Fiction House;1947)

This previously untitled story starring Tiger Girl (aka Princess Vishnu) nicely delves into her background and that of her constant companions (Abdola, Togara & Benzali) in a thrilling adventure tale that I've decided to call "The Warning Drone Menace" from Fight Comics #51 (Aug.1947); originally published by Fiction House. The story is credited to 'Allan O'Hara' and the lovely art is by Matt Baker and Jack Kamen. The Catacombs is grateful to Don "Zu-Gogo" Falkos for providing the scans for this story. Note: The copyright for this issue, its contents and artwork belong to the original publisher and/or creators and is reproduced here solely for entertainment purposes. Enjoy!

How it all began ....

In 1933, publishers at Eastern Color Press, intent to make better use of their printing equipment (which frequently sat idle between jobs), came up with the idea of printing an 8-page comic section that could be folded down from the large broadsheet to a smaller 9-inch by 12-inch format. The result was the first modern comic book. Containing reprints of newspaper comic strips, this experimental comic book titled "Funnies On Parade" was given away for free. It proved so popular that the following year Eastern published "Famous Funnies" and took the bold step of selling the comic for ten cents through chain stores. The enterprise was a smashing success and Eastern began churning out numerous reprints on a monthly basis. Other publishers, eager to get in on the profits, jumped on the bandwagon and the comic book industry was born!